Principles of Grant Writing*Peter Friedman, PhDBruce Freeman, PhD

Pharmacology and Chemical Biology

* Winning!

Objective: Inform about the communication skills and strategies necessary for success in obtaining research $$

Getting Started - Storyboard

"The storyboard for me is the way to visualize the entire movie in advance. Storyboards express what I want to communicate, they show how I would imagine a scene and how it should move to the next” Martin Scorsese

Communicating Your Story

• Have a compelling narrative• NIH doesn’t fund ideas. Translate your

idea to measurable outcomes• Tell it in an engaging manner• Know your audience. Use NIH

resources, http://projectreporter.nih.gov/reporter.cfmhttp://public.csr.nih.gov/StudySections/Pages/default.aspx

Winning

• It’s about not making mistakes• What got you here won’t get you there

Start at the End - John Irving• I usually begin with endings, with a

sense of aftermath, of dust settling, of epilogue.

• How can you plot a novel if you don’t know the ending first? How do you know how to introduce a character if you don’t know how he ends up?

• If you start at beginning you can end up 80% into the manuscript only to discover that it isn’t really working.

First Impressions - Paul Argenti• “Most employers make a decision in

the first minutes of meeting you and then spend the rest of the interview gathering information to support their gut feeling.”

• The same holds with grant proposals.• The first paragraph is critical. Write it

last. • Think of this as selling a pilot to a TV

network. You’ve got to get them hooked right from the start.

Write the Critique for the Reviewer

• When writing the grant, embed the review.• Use phrases that you want used in the review.• Have summaries in each section.• Highlight overall impact in final summary paragraph.

This is some of the most important advice we give you

Key Writing Principles

• Write in simple declarative sentences• Avoid passive voice, personal pronouns• Use strong nouns and active verbs

– The house was on fire. (passive, boring)– Flames erupted from the house. (active, strong)

• Put statements in positive form• Write in a way that is easy for reviewers

to understand– Simple declarative sentences

• Define all non-standard abbreviations• Use grammar and spelling checker!

Key Writing Principles

Presentation

• Use simple, helpful figures with legends• Leave large margins, plenty of white space• Tell the story as a linear narrative. Don’t

make the reviewer return to a previous page to find relevant information or results.

Hypothesis• A simple declarative sentence with an

experimentally testable dependent variable• Not tentative: “the hypothesis is that a loss of

osteocalcin signaling in β-cells could contribute to the decrease in proliferation following the perinatal peak”

• We hypothesize that osteocalcin regulates post-perinatal ß-cell proliferation.

• Avoid waffle words!

Innovation

• Innovation is used to assess how much a project can 1) shift the current research paradigm or 2) refine, improve, or propose a new application of an existing concept, method, instrumentation, or clinical intervention.

• A new idea is novel, not innovative. Innovation is a new way of testing your hypothesis.

Value

• If you are asking for $1M in support, make each page contain $100,000 in value.

• If you spend 80 hr effort writing a 5 yr $250,000/yr R01, you make ~$25,000/hr.

Join The Culture of Science

• Become an active and recognized member of your intended research community

• Attend and present at meetings• Publish in scientific society journals• Seek society fellowships and grants• Get involved in peer review

Persuasive Communication• The Importance of Being Urgent. The secret ingredient!

• Make It Easy to Read. Have your readers breezing happily through.

• Grammar for Fundraisers. Rules you should and shouldn't follow.

• Persuade with Story, Not Statistics. One way motivates, the other demotivates them.

• Keep It Simple. Complexity kills!

• Design for Older Eyes. Design for bifocals-wearing readers.

• Don't Skimp on Emphasis. It makes a difference.

• Make Images Work for You. The right picture can boost results, but the wrong one can turn them away.*

*5 Philanthropic Blogs that Fundraisers Need to Read (The Atlantic): http://bit.ly/Vz52ykThe Fundraiser's Guide to Irresistible Communications. Jeff Brooks: http://amzn.to/XMaCBB

Play to Win The Game

Let’s Write a Grant!• When to start? Why? How to get going?

First• Discuss objectives with mentor, colleagues• Anticipate and resolve “personal issues”

including visa status, team building• Begin to organize your grant toolbox –

experiments, key reagents, coinvestigators, internal and external consultants

Second• Formulate your hypothesis and Specific Aims

(2-5 in number, we like 2-3)• Perform due diligence. Very, very important.• Where?

At the bench – do key preliminary studiesRead Literature – scour scientific, clinical and patent resourcesDiscuss with expert colleagues, potential consultantsInvestigate NIH – RePORTER, CSR, Study Sections

Amazing resource: http://www.niaid.nih.gov/Pages/default.aspx

Third

• Set submission timeline with mentor/colleagues (scientific and administrative)

• Draft Specific Aims ASAP, seek feedback• Begin active writing 4 months before deadline.

Allow 1 month for “diligence”, 1.5 for writing, 1.5 for peer input and revisions

• Every time application doc opened, edit Specific Aims• Superb local resource: http://www.oorhs.pitt.edu/

There are several expert grant writers in this office• This presentation: http://pharmacology.medicine.pitt.edu/Links

• Draft letters for non-Co-Investigator collaborators and consultants, and send to them 6 weeks before deadline so they can “buff”.

• When requesting input from colleagues and it is “critical”, be open-minded and don’t argue!

• Continue to eat, work in lab, exercise, socialize, be normal

• Give colleagues a pdf of the final submitted grant with thanks.

• Meet or beat your departmental and school submission timelines.

• Thank or do something nice for the administrative staff that spent hours-to-days organizing your budget, allied docs and uploading

FourthF2’s Etiquette Guide

Basic Elements of an NIH Grant

The Research Strategy is where you will write your own critique for the review committee

• Specific Aims• Research Strategy Significance Innovation Approach

A. Specific AimsThis is the most important page and must be perfect

• ONE PAGE ONLY! No need to cite references

• Define the problem and key issues first.

• Briefly state the background and scientific rationale (can be based on your preliminary data) for the hypothesis.

• State a clear, succinct, focused and testable hypothesis stemming from the first 1-2 paragraphs (put in bold font).

• List one-sentence Specific Aims that will test the hypothesis (in bold font). Brief experimental approaches can be included below each aim (not bold).

• Finish with a significance statement, i.e., what the new information will do for science/health if completed.

• Here and throughout, avoid excess use (annoying) of bold font, colored letters, italics and underlined words. Your words are ALL important and you only need these tools to help organize and identify key elements of the story you are telling.

This Specific Aims page meetsF2 grant prep standards

• Includes summary figure• Bold hypothesis, aims• Provides background info• Addresses significance

B. Research Plan1. Significance

• Identify importance of the problem• Note critical barriers to progress• State what your research will do to improve

knowledge in the area• Convey how your results will significantly

evolve the development of the field

Suggest 1 page (no >2) use graphics, summarize at end with bullet points

(Dr. Friedman said – “write your own review”)

B. Research Plan2. Innovation

• How will your work shift current research paradigms

• ID the novel concepts, approaches, or interventions to be used

• State what will be the useful application of your innovation and results

Suggest 1 page, can use graphics, and remember the F2 Principle … summarize at end with bullet points

For a 3-Specific Aim app, this is what BAF does in 9-10 pages

(a) Restate Specific Aim

1. General approach and rationale (1 paragraph to 1 page)

2. Preliminary data – include key data/legends (1 page)

3. Specific experimental approach - global methods are grouped, include data and impress with cool experimental approaches, give some exp detail (1-2 pages)

4. Anticipated results and potential pitfalls (1-2 paragraphs)

Important! Save room at very end for Statistical Analysis (3-6 lines), a Timetable of what will get done when (3-6 lines) and ……..

B. Research Plan2. Approach

Overall SummaryInsert this at the end to hopefully be cut and pasted by

reviewer as the “Overall Impact” of your critique

Review of an NIH GrantStudy Section IDs the Strengths and Weaknesses of:

Significance, Innovation, Approach – Each is crucial!Investigators, Environment – If weak, this can hurt

The above are integrated to give:Overall impact - the likelihood for the project to exert a sustained,powerful influence on the research field(s) involved

Make sure in your diligence process that you found a Study Section with the correct expertise to do review, and that you provided a cover letter with the submission to CSR asking for this review committee. Then, no whining!

NIH Scoring SystemNeed 1’s and 2’s … 3’s are toxic

50% of apps not verbally discussed

Impact Score Descriptor Additional Guidance on Strengths and Weaknesses

High

1 Exceptional Exceptionally strong with essentially no weaknesses

2 Outstanding Extremely strong with negligible weaknesses

3 Excellent Very strong with only some minor weaknesses

Medium

4 Very Good Strong but with numerous minor weaknesses

5 Good Strong but with at least one moderate weakness

6 Satisfactory Some strengths but also some moderate weaknesses

Low

7 Fair Some strengths but with at least one major weakness

8 Marginal A few strengths and a few major weaknesses

9 Poor Very few strengths a numerous major weaknesses

Minor Weakness: An addressable weakness, does not substantially lessen impactModerate Weakness: A weakness that lessens impactMajor Weakness: A weakness that severely limits impact

The Seven Wonders of a Competitive Application• Hypothesis-driven experimental aims• Overall novel, innovative, exciting goals.• Goals challenge existing views – transformational.• Technically feasible and not overambitious, dangerous.• Founded on 2-3 of your related publications.• Addresses a recognized and important topic.• Produces relevant information – must significantly

advance knowledge ……. for the NIH this is disease-relevance and potential for translational studies.

These points, and how solidly you achieve them, reveal to the reviewers your passion and scientific intellect

“Doing science is like making love - it may do some good,but that’s not why we do it.” - Richard Feynman